Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters

14 reviews

lovegriefandgender's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

It's tough being trans. As I was reading Detransition, Baby a 16-year old trans girl was murdered in London, and unable to articulate so much rush of feeling I turned hungrily, savagely back to the pages of the book. It seems to be a place, being trans, of endless longing and therefore endless loss, where we are summoned to question our own pain and circular motions and regret and suffering against any other group who had experienced any of those things. I don't think we're brave. Not really. I think we live in an interrogated space, a grey space, where no future can be known as fact.  Then we have to ask what we want: motherhood? Career? Love? Sex? Most of us would be happy just to have something meaningful to say. Yeah. This is where we live. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Abortion, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Medical content, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Hate crime, Infidelity, Self harm, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Addiction, Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Lesbophobia, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Miscarriage, Dysphoria, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Outing, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, and Transphobia

rionstorm's review

emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

 I really wanted to like this, but it kind of just feels like watching my least favourite kind of trans people do things that make me sad on loop with no resolution or change. I don't think I liked a single character in it? There were a few moments that made me go Wow! because they hit on something very real and true about being trans, but there were more moments that just equated being trans to being exactly the miserable caricature cis people think of us as? I am sad that I didn't like it.  Also please I beg, enough with the weird "transfems in opposition to transmascs" / "transmascs have it so easy" / "transmascs and transfems arent REALLY friends" narrative? So not realistic and so not helpful.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia

Moderate: Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, and Racism

mischka's review

dark emotional funny reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This book is a wild ride! The author has some kinds of people in certain queer circles down to a T. Other parts of how they go trough (queer and non-queer) life is completely unknown to me, but that's part of where the fun comes in. Exploring the world through the characters lenses is intriguing. For me personally there was a little to much focus on sex and Kinderwunsch, but well, the second one is basically in the title so. I knew what I was getting into. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Outing, Drug use, Eating disorder, Misogyny, Sexism, Transphobia, Classism, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Miscarriage, Addiction, and Alcoholism

mayan03's review

adventurous emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Transphobia, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Pregnancy, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Grief, Emotional abuse, Addiction, Physical abuse, and Miscarriage

thepermageek's review

challenging emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

First off, I need to just come out & say it:
There are no heroes in this book. 

Every single character is super flawed (like all humans really). Which is one of the reasons I loved it! Another reason is that it accurately depicts life for city-dwelling trans people (and in particular trans women) in the 21st century. 

For instance, some of the settings include picnics in the park, queer dance parties, funerals, & sex workers' clients' apartments. 

FYI there are some pretty rough moments in the book depicting violence & internalized transphobic narratives so if yr trans probably best to read it when yr in a good (enough) headspace.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Transphobia, Alcoholism, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Addiction, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Grief and Suicide

beccaruthe's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Death, Miscarriage, Outing, Physical abuse, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Transphobia, Infidelity, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Grief, Alcohol, Violence, Toxic relationship, and Sexual violence

Minor: Body shaming, Classism, Abandonment, Addiction, Car accident, Cancer, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Racism, Stalking, Mental illness, and Misogyny

inkstutter's review

emotional slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Hate crime, Infidelity, Misogyny, Outing, Infertility, Domestic abuse, and Dysphoria

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Drug use, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Adult/minor relationship, Deadnaming, Addiction, Alcohol, and Mental illness

Minor: Abandonment and Eating disorder

luisaroesch's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny informative sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship and Violence

Moderate: Abortion, Addiction, Deadnaming, Drug use, Transphobia, Emotional abuse, Death, Outing, and Pregnancy

Minor: Dysphoria, Outing, Racism, and Suicide attempt

lydiaie's review

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Outing, Transphobia, Violence, Lesbophobia, Mental illness, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Abortion, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Deadnaming, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Infertility, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Self harm, Sexual assault, Addiction, Grief, Physical abuse, and Suicide

charley0796's review

dark emotional hopeful informative slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

A beautiful reflection of queerness in all its forms and one of the first fully queer books I’ve read, definitely the first trans book I read (despite being pan myself).  I’m so glad it was my first!
I loved the imperfect characters and the development of Katrina. I learnt so much about trans culture, class and gender through this book - an unbiased lesson. It gives you unapologetic insight into what life is like as a trans person and lets you know the answers to questions you’ve never been able to ask.
The characters hooked me, and resonated with my own queer realisation - so much so that when I realised the last paragraph was indeed the last paragraph I cried out. 
However, I was not a fan of the constant jumping back and forth into chapters that weren’t linked to the plot or clearly linked to understanding the characters. At times the language frustratingly descriptive and flowery - I wish bits of this were cut to make room for an ending that didn’t feel rushed, especially given the otherwise slow pace of the book. Perhaps a sequel will answer my burning question?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Sexual violence, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Abortion, Addiction, and Alcoholism